In a bizarre incident of malfunction, a UP resident received an electricity bill that almost gave him a mild attack.
Shamim, a resident of Chamri village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur who lives with his wife Khairu Nisha, has received an electricity bill of Rs 1,28,45,95,444.
Yes, those are the exact numbers. No errors here.
Hapur: A resident of Chamri has received an electricity bill of Rs 1,28,45,95,444. He says "No one listens to our pleas, how will we submit that amount? When we went to complain about it,we were told that they won't resume our electricity connection unless we pay the bill."(20.7) pic.twitter.com/2kOQT8ho36
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 20, 2019
Reportedly, the electricity department has also disconnected their connection for not clearing the bill. When Shamim approached the electricity department to assist him in rectifying the error, he was allegedly told to pay the bill in order to resume the connection.
“No one listens to our pleas, how will we submit that amount? When we went to complain about it, we were told that they won’t resume our electricity connection unless we pay the bill. I am running from pillar to post but no one is listening. It seems that the electricity department wants me to pay the bill of whole Hapur,” said Shamim.
For a family who only uses a fan and some regular house lights, an electricity bill amounting to Rs 128 crore is nowhere near normal.
“We only use fan and light. How can the amount be so high? We are poor, how we will pay such a large amount,” quips Shamim’s wife Khairu Nisha.
On being questioned about the blunder, Ram Sharan, Assistant Electrical Engineer said, “This is no big deal. Technical faults do take place.”
Ram Sharan, Assistant Electrical Engineer: This must be a technical fault. If they provide us the bill we will issue them an updated one after rectifying the technical fault in the system. This is no big deal. Technical faults do take place. (20.07.2019) pic.twitter.com/4TUswbvVDu
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) July 20, 2019
While it is obviously a mistake, we wonder why the atrocious amount failed to raise an eyebrow at the electricity department!